There were only two possibilities and both related to their release. Either the Communist Chinese government was going to delay them, or would just say, screw it, everyone knows they’re going to be bad so let ‘em fly. There weren’t any questions about the data itself. Sure enough, the first glimpse at China’s economy in its full virus effects was [...]
Back last June, the dollar had broken its upswing. DXY, one major dollar index, had fallen sharply as had most if not all of the rest. This one had given up most of its “gains” in a relatively short period. That said, to some, the greenback had definitely hit its high. All downhill from there. It didn’t help, supposedly, that [...]
I do get a big kick out of the way Communists over in China announce how they are dealing with their enormous problems especially as they may be getting worse. Each month, for example, the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will publish figures on retail sales or industrial production at record lows but in the opening paragraphs the text [...]
It seems as if we’ve found one of those interim periods that often accompany times of uncertainty. Markets, stocks as well as bonds, are in a wait-and-see mode. Either the next shoe drops, as is feared, or the grand response works, as is widely hoped. Which way are the risks perhaps rebalancing? The global downturn that developed late last year [...]
Chinese monetary authorities announced today what will be for some of its banks a seventh round of “stimulus.” For the largest institutions, it will "only" be their sixth and the first one since January 2019. The PBOC has decided it is time for more RRR cuts. Effective September 16, the ratio all banks are required to hold of reserves will [...]
For a cabal of superpatient supergeniuses, the Chinese tend to play with fire quite often. According to many, the Communists have perfected the art of technocracy and are merely waiting out the impetuously free West. The dollar system will destroy itself (there’s the kernel of truth) allowing a perfectly positioned China to swoop in and rescue the global economy with [...]
Earlier this month, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) reduced the percentage of liquid reserves some banks are required to hold. Effective May 15, the Chinese central bank estimated that the policy change would release about RMB 280 billion into the system. This RRR discount, however, was only applied to small and medium-sized banks. The reserve rate for large banks [...]
This will serve mostly as an update to what is going on inside the Chinese monetary system. The PBOC’s balance sheet numbers for February 2019 are exactly what we’ve come to expect, ironically confirmed today on the domestic end by the FOMC's dreaded dovishness. Therefore, rather than rewrite the same commentary for why this continues to happen I’ll just link [...]
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that the country’s official manufacturing PMI in December 2018 dropped below 50 for the first time since the summer of 2016. Many if not most associate a number in the 40’s with contraction. While that may or not be the case, what’s more important is the quite well-established direction. Coming in at 49.4 [...]
There is some hope among those viewing bad news as good news. In China, where alarms are currently sounding the loudest, next week begins the plenary session for the State Council and its working groups. For several days, Communist authorities will weigh all the relevant factors, as they see them, and will then come up with the broad strokes for [...]
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